When people say that e.g. it’s such a miracle that life on Earth exists because the slightest change in its distance from the Sun or gravity or the lack of water would make it impossible for us to be around – forgetting that our existence presupposes all this. Or an argument for God that it cannot be accidental that we have all the preconditions on Earth to sustain ourselvea and that the way nature and our body works is a miracle – but it’s precisely why it can work and there are many planets where life couldn’t form for the lack of these components.
In: 10
That’s not really a fallacy. It’s just incomplete and somewhat outdated.
Here’s the base argument: It is possible for me to flip a coin 1,000 times and get heads each time. But, that outcome is so unlikely that “the coin isn’t fair” is a more likely explanation than just random chance.
If you lived 200 years ago and really were unaware of the sheer vastness of space, you likely would have considered Earth to be unique. And, if Earth is unique, then you start to believe that it’s far more likely that there’s something more going on than simple dumb luck.
However, the argument falls apart once astronomers demonstrate how we are a tiny part of a massive galaxy and that there are many many more galaxies out there. So, statistically, there have to be lots of planets where life has developed. And, then the premise of that argument falls apart– Earth isn’t unique. It just happens to be one of the 1/(2^1000) times that you really did get 1,000 heads in a row.
Also, it’s not clear that it really is 1/(2^1000). That may be the chance that you get life exactly like we have it. But, flip one of those coins the other way, and maybe we have 6 fingers instead of 5. Flip another, and maybe we can live in hotter or colder temperatures, etc….. We know from our own planet that life can survive in a lot of different environments.
Latest Answers